Christopher’s Corner
· Bucket List trip[6]: USA 70-degree year trip: Cape Cod
· Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels
· Spirit Hour: Cape Cod Cocktail
· Monday: Litany of Humility
· Foodie-Clam bake
One of the most well-known landmarks in Fairfax County is the mighty Potomac River, running 405 miles long into the Chesapeake Bay. There's nothing like feeling the wind in your hair and gliding through miles of natural scenic landscapes. Whether you're kayaking, paddleboarding, or canoeing, there are plenty of places to go. Find your picture-perfect paddling adventure here on our boating page.[7]
JUNE 9 Monday-Blessed
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
WHIT MONDAY
Galatians,
chapter 4, verse 11
I am AFRAID on your account that perhaps I
have labored for you in vain.
Have
you ever when you have sinned and failed, asked Christ, please do not let me
suffer the loss of your sacrifice for me.
Has
your fear been that Christ has
labored for you in vain?
This
is what Paul was saying to the Galatians; he was crying for them not to throw
the freedom that Christ had earned for them away by living in worldly ways. Our
call is to be in the world but not of the world.
This
is the message of the gospel.
Jesus
said to his disciples:
“You
are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be
seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A
city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put
it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all
in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see
your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Mt 5:13-15)
Thank
God there is a cure for our failures it is the Sacraments of Confession and the
Holy Eucharist; seek use of them today and never stop praying.
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church[1]
The Fathers of the Church, holy and studious bishops of the first
centuries, often spoke of Mary as the New Eve. Just as the Woman Eve was “the
mother of all the living” (Gen. 3:20), the Woman Mary was mother of all those
living in Christ. In Revelation 12:17, St. John says that this Woman’s
offspring are “those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to
Jesus.”
Is the title “Mother of the Church” found in the Bible?
The title “Mother of the Church” is not found in
Sacred Scripture, but Pope St. John Paul II covered several ways that the Bible
alludes to this title: Although the title “Mother of the Church” was only
recently attributed to Mary, it expresses the Blessed Virgin’s maternal
relationship with the Church as shown already in several New Testament texts. Since
the Annunciation, Mary was called, to give her consent to the coming of the
messianic kingdom, which would take place with the formation of the Church. When
at Cana Mary asked the Son to exercise his messianic power, she made a
fundamental contribution to implanting the faith in the first community of
disciples, and she co-operated in initiating God’s kingdom, which has its
“seed” and “beginning” in the Church (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 5). On Calvary,
Mary united herself to the sacrifice of her Son and made her own maternal
contribution to the work of salvation, which took the form of labor pains, the
birth of the new humanity. In addressing the words “Woman, behold your son” to
Mary, the Crucified One proclaims her motherhood not only in relation to the
Apostle John but also to every disciple. The Evangelist himself, by saying that
Jesus had to die “to gather into one the children of God who are scattered
abroad” (Jn 11:52), indicates the Church’s birth as the fruit of the redemptive
sacrifice with which Mary is maternally associated. The Evangelist St Luke
mentions the presence of Jesus’ Mother in the first community of Jerusalem
(Acts 1:14). In this way he stresses Mary’s maternal role in the newborn
Church, comparing it to her role in the Redeemer’s birth. The maternal
dimension thus becomes a fundamental element of Mary’s relationship with the
new People of the redeemed. (General Audience, September 17, 1997)
How did Mary become the Mother of the Church?
The Father chose Mary from among all women to be the
mother, according to human nature, of His Divine Son. As she is Mother of
Christ in the natural order, she is also the Mother of His Mystical Body, the
Church, of which He is the Head in the order of grace. In the Book of Hebrews
2:9-13, the author makes it clear that Jesus is our brother:
[W]e see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels,
crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the
grace of God he might taste death for every one. For it was fitting that he,
for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should
make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who
sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is
not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I will proclaim thy name to my
brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.” And again, “I
will put my trust in him.” And again, “Here am I, and the children God has
given me.” (emphasis added)
Since Jesus is our brother, and Mary is His mother, it follows that Mary
is our mother as well. Finally, when Jesus was on the cross, we see the tender
moment when He gave Mary to the Apostle John. In the Gospel of John 19:26-27,
we read:
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near,
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own
home.
Thus, the Tradition of the Church, coming from the Apostles, teaches us
to understand that the Lord was entrusting all of His disciples to Mary, in the
person of St. John.
Whit Monday?[2]
Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday,
also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the holiday celebrated
the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in
the Christian liturgical calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the
date of Easter. In
the Catholic Church, it is the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Church, marking the resumption of Ordinary Time.
Whit Monday gets its English name from
"Whitsunday", an
English name for Pentecost, one of the three baptismal seasons.
The origin of the name "Whit Sunday" is generally attributed to the
white garments formerly worn by those newly baptized on this feast.
Whit
Monday[3]
FILLED
with joy over the gracious descent of the Holy Ghost, the Church sings, at the
Introit of the Mass, He fed them with the fat of wheat, alleluia, and filled
them with honey out of the rock, alleluia, alleluia. Rejoice to God, our
helper, sing aloud to the God of Jacob (Ps. Ixxx.).
Prayer. O God, Who didst give the Holy
Spirit to Thy apostles, grant to Thy people the effect of their pious prayers,
that on those to whom Thou hast given grace, Thou mayest also bestow peace.
EPISTLE.
Acts x. 34, 43-48.
In
those days Peter, opening his mouth, said: Men, brethren, the Lord commanded us
to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He Who was appointed by God
to be judge of the living and of the dead. To Him all the prophets give
testimony, that by His name all receive remission of sins, who believe in Him.
While Peter was yet speaking these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that
heard the word. And the faithful of the circumcision, who came with Peter, were
astonished, for that the grace of the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the
gentiles also. For they heard them speaking with tongues, and magnifying God.
Then Peter answered: Can any man forbid water, that these should not be
baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
And
he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
GOSPEL.
John iii. 16-21.
At that time Jesus said
unto Nicodemus: God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that
whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For
God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may
be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him is not judged. But He that doth not
believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment: because the light is come into
the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light, for their works were
evil. For everyone that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the
light, that his works may not be reproved. But he that doth truth, cometh to
the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God.
By what has God most
shown the greatness of His love?
By
giving up His only begotten Son to the most painful and ignominious death, that
we, the guilty, might be delivered from eternal death, and have life
everlasting.
If, then, so many are
lost, is it the fault of God?
No:
as the physician gives up only the incurable, so God condemns only those who
believe not in Christ as their Savior and God; who love darkness, that is, the
principles and works which correspond to their corrupt inclinations; who
despise Jesus, the light of the world, and His doctrines; who neglect the
divine service, the public instructions, and the reception of the holy
sacraments; who take this licentious life for wisdom and enlightenment; who
refuse to be taught, and have pronounced their own condemnation, even before
the final judgment.
Why should we love God?
Because
He has loved us from eternity: He loved us when as, yet we were not. If we love
him who does us some good, who helps us in need, or exposes himself to danger
for our sake, how much more should we love Him Who has given us all that we
have: the angels to be our guards, the sun, moon, and stars to be our light;
the earth to be our dwelling-place; the elements, plants, and animals to supply
our necessary wants, and to serve for our advantage and enjoyment; Who
continually preserves us and protects us from countless dangers; Who has
subjected Himself for our sake, not merely to the danger of His life, but to
the most painful and humiliating death; Who for gives all our sins, heals all
our infirmities, redeems our life from destruction, and crowns us with
compassion and mercy.
The Time
After Pentecost[4]
As both the Bible and Church Fathers attest, there are several distinct
periods of sacred history. These periods arise, are given their own set of
dispensations, and then disappear. The age before the Law was replaced by the
age under it, and that age, in turn, was closed during the time that Jesus
Christ walked the face of the earth. Likewise, the age of divine revelation
(which ended at the death of the last Apostle) gave way to a different era, the
era immediately preceding the Second Coming. It is that era in which we now
find ourselves. Despite the expanse of two thousand years and the plethora of
cultural and technological changes that separate us from the Christians who
outlived the Beloved Disciple, we are still living in the same age as they, the
last age of mankind.
The Time After Pentecost is the time that corresponds to this age. Just
as Advent symbolizes life under the Old Law while the Christmas, Lenten, and
Easter seasons recapitulate the thirty-three-year era of Jesus Christ's earthly
sojourn, the Time after Pentecost corresponds to the penultimate chapter of the
story of redemption, the chapter that is currently being written. That story,
as we all know, has been written somewhat out of order. Thanks to the last book
of the Bible, we have a vivid account of history's climax but not of what
happens in between the Apostolic Age and the Final Judgment. In a sense we
should all feel a certain affinity for the Time After Pentecost, since it is
the only liturgical season of the year that corresponds to where we are now.
Where we are is the age of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is often
called the birthday of the Church because even though the Apostles were
transformed by earlier events such as the institution of the Eucharist and
priesthood on Maundy Thursday or their acquiring the power to forgive sins on Easter
afternoon, they - and by extension, the Church - did not really come into their
own until the Paraclete inspired them to burst out of their closed quarters and
spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And just as Pentecost marks the
birthday of the Church in the Holy Spirit, so too does the Time after Pentecost
mark the life of the Church moving through the vicissitudes of history under
the protection and guidance of that same Spirit. It is for this reason that the
epistle readings from this season emphasize the Apostles' advice to the
burgeoning churches of the day while its Gospel readings focus on the kingdom
of heaven and its justice. It is also the reason why the corresponding lessons
from the breviary draw heavily from the history of the Israelite monarchy in
the Old Testament. All are somehow meant to teach us how to comport ourselves
as citizens of the city of God as we pass through the kingdoms of this world.
The sectoral cycle that concurs with the Time after Pentecost is the part of the year with the most saints' days. Saints are an important component in the Christian landscape not only because of their capacity to intercede for us, but because they are living proof that a holy, Catholic life is possible in every time and place. In fact, the feasts kept during the Time after Pentecost encompass virtually every aspect of Church life. If the saints in general remind us of the goal of holiness, certain saints, such as St. John the Baptist (June 24 & August 29) or Sts. Peter (June 29 & August 1) and Paul (June 29 & 30) remind us of the role that the hierarchy plays in leading the Church towards that goal. Likewise, the feasts of the temporal cycle, such as the Feast of the Holy Trinity, of Corpus Christi, or of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, direct our attention to the explicit dogma, sacramentality, and spirituality of the Church, respectively. Even the physical space is consecrated for sacred use; all feasts for the dedication of churches take place only during the Time after Pentecost. The Time after Pentecost truly is the time of the Church, the liturgical season that corresponds to the spotless Bride's continuous and multifaceted triumph over the world. This is one of the reasons why the liturgical color for this season is green, the symbol of hope and life. It might also be the reason why it is the longest liturgical season, occupying 23 to 28 weeks of the year.
And because the
Time after Pentecost is the time of the Church, it is also a profoundly
eschatological season. Every believer needs to heed St. Paul's admonitions
about the Parousia and to ready himself for the end times, for the Last
Judgment and the creation of a new heaven and earth.
The Time after
Pentecost is the period between the age of the Apostles on the one hand and the
Age of ages (saecula saeculorum) on the other. By navigating vis-à-vis these
two coordinates, its liturgical celebrations embody redeemed living in a fallen
world and constant preparedness for the Bridegroom. And in doing so it shows us
- members of the age it ritually represents - how to do the same.
Which are the fruits of the Holy Ghost? They are the twelve following:
1. Charity.
2.
Joy.
3. Peace.
4. Patience.
5. Benignity.
6. Goodness.
7. Longsuffering.
8. Mildness.
9. Faith.
10. Modesty.
11.
Continency.
12.
Chastity.
These fruits
should be visible in the Christian, for thereby men shall know that the Holy
Ghost dwells in him, as the tree is known by its fruit.
Notice I have placed the Fruits of the Holy Spirit in stairstep fashion so we may reflect on them seeing that by concentrating on each step of our growth in the spirit we may progress closer and closer to our heavenly Father. Today we will be focusing on the first step which is chastity.
When I reflect on chastity, I think of Saint Maximilian Kolbe which is reported to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary as a youth and in the vision, Mary came to him presented him two crowds one crown was white and the other crown was red, and she told him that he must choose a crown. She said the white crown was purity and the red crown blood sacrifice/martyrdom. Consequently, Saint Maximilian Kolbe then asked Mary can I take both to which she said yes. Maximilian Kolbe later became a priest and was chase his entire life and he was a martyr for the cause of Christ during WWII in Auschwitz, the NAZI death camp.
In reflecting on this I have concluded, we too, also must decide whether we want to sacrifice our blood; be pure or do both.
Chastity is the
first step to the long road to Holiness and Happiness both in this world and
the next. Chastity is the first step and Continency is the next step.
Apostolic Exhortation[5]
Veneremur
Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling
of The Most
Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix
on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My beloved Brothers and
Sisters in Christ,
Part III
Loving and Adoring the
Eucharistic Lord
IV. Invite a friend to join you
in adoration.
89. The Apostle Andrew gives a
direct, personal invitation to his brother Peter to accompany him to see the
Lord. He declares to his younger brother that “we have found the Messiah” and
then walks with him into the presence of Jesus (Jn 1:42). Are there not a host
of persons who are one confident, loving invitation away from engaging (or
re-engaging) the Lord through His Eucharistic body? What a blessing for so many
of our closest loved ones and friends if we were to have Andrew’s courage to
say, “I’ve found a treasure in the Eucharistic presence of Christ. Would you
like to join me there?”.
90. Faith-filled intercession
for others plays a key role, especially when neither testimony nor invitation
is sufficient to draw a person into Christ’s presence. A man was so
incapacitated that he could not even walk to where Christ was. So, his friends
picked him up and they “were trying to bring him in and set him in His [Jesus’]
presence”. Unable to carry him into the crowded house, they lowered him on a
stretcher through an opening in the roof. Jesus saw their faith, forgave and
healed the man, who “went home glorifying God” (Lk 5:17-26). We should never
despair when someone we love is unable or unwilling to accompany us to the
Eucharist. With deep faith, we can still lower them on the stretcher of our
intercessory prayer into the Lord’s presence.
91. These three events remind
us that Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is meant to be shared. They also
remind us that there is no single method of drawing others into the Lord’s
presence. Sometimes honest testimony is enough for those to seek Him out on
their own, as with the people of Samaria. For others like Peter, it requires a
direct, friendly invitation to come with us into Christ’s presence. For still
others who may be spiritually “paralyzed” and for whom direct access to
Eucharistic adoration is not yet a possibility, we can carry them on the
stretcher of our intercessory prayers, lowered before Christ in His presence
despite their immobilized condition.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Day 357 2786-2793
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION TWO-THE LORD'S PRAYER
Article 2-"OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN"
III. "Our" Father
2786
"Our" Father refers to God. the adjective, as used by us, does not
express possession, but an entirely new relationship with God.
2787 When we
say "our" Father, we recognize first that all his promises of love
announced by the prophets are fulfilled in the new and eternal covenant in his
Christ: we have become "his" people and he is henceforth
"our" God. This new relationship is the purely gratuitous gift of
belonging to each other: we are to respond to "grace and truth" given
us in Jesus Christ with love and faithfulness.
2788 Since the
Lord's Prayer is that of his people in the "endtime," this
"our" also expresses the certitude of our hope in God's ultimate
promise: in the new Jerusalem he will say to the victor, "I will be his
God and he shall be my son."
2789 When we
pray to "our" Father, we personally address the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. By doing so we do not divide the Godhead, since the Father is its
"source and origin," but rather confess that the Son is eternally
begotten by him and the Holy Spirit proceeds from him. We are not confusing the
persons, for we confess that our communion is with the Father and his Son,
Jesus Christ, in their one Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is consubstantial and
indivisible. When we pray to the Father, we adore and glorify him together with
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2790
Grammatically, "our" qualifies a reality common to more than one
person. There is only one God, and he is recognized as Father by those who,
through faith in his only Son, are reborn of him by water and the
Spirit. The Church is this new communion of God and men. United with the
only Son, who has become "the firstborn among many brethren," she is
in communion with one and the same Father in one and the same Holy
Spirit. In praying "our" Father, each of the baptized is praying
in this communion: "The company of those who believed were of one heart
and soul."
2791 For this
reason, in spite of the divisions among Christians, this prayer to
"our" Father remains our common patrimony and an urgent summons for
all the baptized. In communion by faith in Christ and by Baptism, they ought to
join in Jesus' prayer for the unity of his disciples.
2792 Finally,
if we pray the Our Father sincerely, we leave individualism behind, because the
love that we receive frees us from it. the "our" at the beginning of
the Lord's Prayer, like the "us" of the last four petitions, excludes
no one. If we are to say it truthfully, our divisions and oppositions have to
be overcome.
2793 The
baptized cannot pray to "our" Father without bringing before him all
those for whom he gave his beloved Son. God's love has no bounds, neither
should our prayer. Praying "our" Father opens to us the
dimensions of his love revealed in Christ: praying with and for all who do not
yet know him, so that Christ may "gather into one the children of
God." God's care for all men and for the whole of creation has
inspired all the great practitioners of prayer; it should extend our prayer to
the full breadth of love whenever we dare to say "our" Father.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Purity
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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